Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple's Google Now Competitor 'Today' Features Traffic Information on Frequently Visited Locations

danahn17 said:
Am I missing something? I'm failing to see how Today innovates on top of Now... except for it telling me to sleep earlier :eek:



I agree, the whole "we were first!" or "you copy!" thing is a bit silly. But I'm thinking the responses on this thread regarding Today is partly due to the harsh criticisms on the forums in the past directed at any company (Google, Samsung, etc) copying Apple.
Click to expand...

exactly.. and now that Apple is more obvious with their "borrowing", it's not cool to discuss it...
 
matty.p said:
For someone that doesn't use Chrome or Gmail though this doesn't mean much.
Click to expand...

Yeah, since I have my own domain name and a private email host as well as a few other accounts, Apple really has the upper hand. They could track what I have in Mail. Gmail's interface can only use Gmail accounts, and it's also really weak in general compared to Mail (besides the nice phone calling feature).

And I use Safari because it's faster and doesn't look hideous. In Windows, I use Safari strictly because it can't be infected with Babylon and other crap, but Chrome can since nobody uses Safari in Windows.

----------
billystlyes said:
I know companies copy from one another, but thank god for Google. They are the only ones pushing things forward.
Click to expand...

The only "Big 3" company not making a real desktop OS? I tried Mavericks, and it was impressive. Heck, even Windows leaves Chrome OS in the dust.
 
"Looks like you got a pretty busy life going on. Why not shutting me off for some time (or, in your case, forever) and live a life worth living?"
 
Apple are increasingly 'back on track'.

They should have ditched Forstall a good couple of years earlier.
 
ios6 shows all the calendar events grouped in order
iOS 7 looks like it's scrollable. If you have something booked at 8am and 8pm its lots of scrolling

i like ios6 - a quick glance at your day.

Please correct me if i'm wrong but there is all this scrolling, checking, seeing what is happening, then it's a lot harder to see what is happening with ios 7 which is a PITA
 
Am I the only one who's actually happy that Apple copies (or 'steals' if you must) ideas from competitors? If Google or whoever bring out a cool new feature then of course I want Apple to give me the same feature on my iPhone! I certainly hope Apple continues to innovate and come up with its own original new features (which others will copy in due course), but I don't want an iPhone that's lagging behind the competition because Apple won't implement their own spin on Android & co's innovations
 
With all these new iOS 7 location services, I really hope the iPhone 7th Gen will come with massive battery life improvements. It'll be a few months before we really start getting rumors on hardware components, but I'd love to see a more efficient SOC, antennas, and a bigger battery.

I definitely think I'll be getting the new iPhone, but battery life is a constant worry when you start adding a lot of new services requiring GPS and internet access. Here's hoping I actually feel comfortable leaving features on.

----------
NightFox said:
Am I the only one who's actually happy that Apple copies (or 'steals' if you must) ideas from competitors? If Google or whoever bring out a cool new feature then of course I want Apple to give me the same feature on my iPhone! I certainly hope Apple continues to innovate and come up with its own original new features (which others will copy in due course), but I don't want an iPhone that's lagging behind the competition because Apple won't implement their own spin on Android & co's innovations
Click to expand...

Apple has always taken inspiration from other companies, but they generally put their own twists on things. They like to not just do what their competition is doing, but do it right. Whether or not they always end up with the best implementation is debatable, they always seem motivated to do something well, not just check off the box.

Of course Apple does invent new things, too.

----------
santaliqueur said:
You assume you're important enough to be spied on. Doubt it.
Click to expand...

The point of these recent revelations is that everyone is being spied on, not just foreign nationals and suspected criminals.
 
I don't think that Google now and Today are in direct competition.
Indeed, even if Google Now allows you to find restaurants and paths, it is more focused on search. Today is focused on traffic things...
 
donutbagel said:
The only "Big 3" company not making a real desktop OS? I tried Mavericks, and it was impressive. Heck, even Windows leaves Chrome OS in the dust.
Click to expand...

Chrome OS is not a desktop platform. It was not designed to be one and it does not attempt to be one, so it doesn't make any sense to compare it to OS X or Windows. Chrome OS is a client for cloud-based services with limited offline capabilities; it's basically a web browser that does not need a third party operating system to run because it comes with its own operating system kernel.

There's a a simple reason why Google does not create a traditional desktop platform: They're an INTERNET company, not a supplier of a disconnected standalone solutions. Their business does not benefit from "owning" the desktop. Furthermore, the desktop war was won by Microsoft almost thirty(!) years ago. It's not a market where it makes ANY sense for a new player to compete, because you simply can't win. Google wins by pushing their INTERNET services to ANY system that as an IP address - they don't win by gaining operating system market share. (Android and Chrome OS are just means to that end.)
 
radiohead14 said:
oh please.. roll your eyes somewhere else.. another one who thinks apple innovated someone else's work. go look up reviews of haswell in other notebooks. here i'll start you off:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7047/the-haswell-ultrabook-review-core-i74500u-tested/5
Click to expand...

oh please, did you think anyone didn't know that Haswell was more efficient on battery life? That still doesn't take away from the fact that Mavericks itself has new power management features implemented by Apple in software. Or did you think those features will only work on Haswell equipped Macs from 2013?

Here, I'll start you off
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/06/how-os-x-mavericks-works-its-power-saving-magic/

I'll concede you're correct if in fact Intel has written all of the new power saving and performance features in Mavericks such as App Nap, timer coalescing, the new Safari, memory compression, etc instead of Apple.
 
blackcrayon said:
oh please, did you think anyone didn't know that Haswell was more efficient on battery life? That still doesn't take away from the fact that Mavericks itself has new power management features implemented by Apple in software. Or did you think those features will only work on Haswell equipped Macs from 2013?

Here, I'll start you off
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/06/how-os-x-mavericks-works-its-power-saving-magic/

I'll concede you're correct if in fact Intel has written all of the new power saving and performance features in Mavericks such as App Nap, timer coalescing, the new Safari, memory compression, etc instead of Apple.
Click to expand...

Apple most probably, with almost 100% certainty wrote the software for Mavericks. But their software has to control hardware, and the hardware layer was most probably, with almost 100% certainty written by Intel.
 
If this gets expanded, it will be better then Google Now because it will take into account iPhone usage overall and not require Google account usage. Much more data to work from when you don't have to limit yourself to just things you do with one company.
 
Todd B. said:
If this gets expanded, it will be better then Google Now because it will take into account iPhone usage overall and not require Google account usage. Much more data to work from when you don't have to limit yourself to just things you do with one company.
Click to expand...

Google now doesn't just take into consideration what you do via their services. Not that I can tell. It is a hybrid of what you search for, GPS from your phone, and so on. As much as Apple/iOS would be collecting from one's phone to produce "today"

I seem them as parallel services.

----------
brunnernathan said:
I don't think that Google now and Today are in direct competition.
Indeed, even if Google Now allows you to find restaurants and paths, it is more focused on search. Today is focused on traffic things...
Click to expand...

Have you used google now?

It does traffic, alerts, points of interest, movie times, etc.
 
Honestly, I think Google's approach makes more sense.

Display the data graphically, not in text form. Much quicker to find what you're looking for when you only want to check your phone briefly.

Also the card interface allows you to quickly get rid of information that is not pertinent to you at that time. Provides a better user experience by allowing you to quickly get to what you're looking for. Also provides a lot of valuable feedback information to Google to make the algorithm better.
 
Macist said:
Apple are increasingly 'back on track'.

They should have ditched Forstall a good couple of years earlier.
Click to expand...


I think a lot of the cool new features we're getting are because Steve Jobs is no longer directing the show. He was AWESOME - don't get me wrong. but now they're free to try new different things.
 
jonAppleSeed said:
Apple most probably, with almost 100% certainty wrote the software for Mavericks. But their software has to control hardware, and the hardware layer was most probably, with almost 100% certainty written by Intel.
Click to expand...

Agreed, but you could say that with almost any Mac from the beginning of time, since Apple never created every hardware component from scratch in every Mac. And of course you should get at least some of these power saving improvements in any Mac which 10.9 supports, even with old "power wasting" hardware from 2009.
 
Just noticed this. Pretty cool. Just told me how long it will take for me to get home.

I'm not sure it knows how fast I drive though :eek:
 
MonkeySee.... said:
Just noticed this. Pretty cool. Just told me how long it will take for me to get home.

I'm not sure it knows how fast I drive though :eek:
Click to expand...

samcraig said:
ACCELERometer ;)
Click to expand...

It's the GPS, the accelerometer just records transient acceleration not continuous, the GPS takes samples of your position and calculates distance travelled (relative to time) and derives speed from that. :)
 
Krimsonmyst said:
So when Google creates a predictor/assistant service that uses your information its creepy and an invasion of privacy, but when apple does it its innovative and clever?
Click to expand...

That's because Google is creepy.

----------
billystlyes said:
I know companies copy from one another, but thank god for Google. They are the only ones pushing things forward.
Click to expand...

yeah.. without them, Blackberry-like smartphone will not be this popular today. :D
Google just show off to make an impression that it's the first, like the Map presentation they did a year ago. What a pathetic company.
 
matrix07 said:
That's because Google is creepy.

----------



yeah.. without them, Blackberry-like smartphone will not be this popular today. :D
Google just show off to make an impression that it's the first, like the Map presentation they did a year ago. What a pathetic company.
Click to expand...

Oh the "hate" is strong with you :p

Google is far from pathetic. You might like them. But that doesn't mean they are pathetic. I'm sure you had NO problem using Google Maps and Search on the iPhone. And valued those services as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back